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Saturday, 21 March 2009

Review - Mi Ami - Watersports

Dance bands, not a term you hear very often these days. Even back in the old days it was more this is a funk/swing/jazz/Disco group. On top of that there was only one real dance band that I can remember, Bentley Rhythm Ace. Mi Ami, in their glorious aural stimulation, sounds nothing like the BRA.

It's an odd fusion to behold, certainly on the face of things. Disco, Jazz, almost tribal drum patterns and screechy vocals. Then there was the PR blurb that reminded me of Neon Blonde, it all seemed like it was going to take a nosedive into the dross department. How wrong I was, like the Chinese Stars came from the ashes of Arab On Radar to produce a beautiful and danceable yet chaotic work of art, Mi Ami fuse natural overlaps in style and sound, often heading to the fringes of Noise Rock, and produce something both instantly accessible yet somewhat abstract in composure. It's like the perfect jigsaw, hideously complex in appearance and sublimely simple in practice. Drum and bass hold the whole thing together whilst vocal and guitar dance around on top, highlighting the highs and backing up the lows. In fact I didn't appreciate its beauty till I walked home from the pub and it became the soundtrack to a low lit street. Oh, and did I mention you could dance to it?

Gripes, there are some. It's not one to listen to for a few rotations, each track is extremely similar to the last and after a couple of plays on repeat it will get rather boring, with tracks blending into one another. Combine this with a forty-five minute playtime and you rarely get through 2 rotations in a row. Also it can get rather hard to tell which track is which unless you're checking which one is playing. When recommending the band to friends you end up skipping the 'this track is good' section, you're mind fries trying to remember which one is which. That said the pros outweigh the cons.

With all that done I'll sign off; this is an excellent example of fusion and experimentation, get it now.